I Will Stand By You
by passionsanddevotions
Summary: Crossover with California Solo. Belle becomes interested in the friend of a friend. Lachlan comes to realize he's not quite as alone as he thought he was.


"Hey Beau!" Lachlan smiled as his favourite customer walked up to the produce stand. She was wearing a pretty white sundress and a floppy hat to shade her pretty brown eyes from the sun. Her boyfriend was with her again, wearing a green shirt with the name of some new band Lachlan had only barely heard of. "Hey, Paul. Two weeks running, eh?"

The younger man saluted him. "Yeah."

"How were the tomatoes?"

"Awesome." Beau gushed. "Thank you for pushing them on me." She smiled. "Oh! I wanted to introduce you to someone!" She looked around herself. "Belle?" she called.

A girl at the stall across the way turned around and hurried over to them. She was as different as a woman could be from Beau. Short where Beau was tall, hair a darker brown and eyes a lighter shade of blue, her form more curved than Beau's. She was beautiful, to be sure, but in a different way than Beau. She was wearing a blue dress with white polka dots and a flared skirts and heeled sandals; even with the added height she was still distinctly shorter than Beau.

"This is my friend, Belle." Beau smiled. "Belle, this is Lachlan."

Belle's face lit up as she smiled and held her hand out for him to shake. "Lachlan! It's so nice to meet you! Beau has been telling me about this market for the longest time, and now that I'm here I'm sorry I didn't come sooner!"

Beau grinned. "I finally convinced her to come when she refused to use any vegetables other than the ones I got here for cooking." The taller girl stuck her tongue out at her friend.

Lachlan smiled at Belle. "Well, I'm glad you finally decided to come out." He turned his attention back to Beau. "And I'm glad you enjoy the things you get here so much."

They lapsed into silence for a moment, which Paul decided to fill.

"Beau didn't - uh - tell me who you were last week."

Lachlan laughed, confused. "Who am I?"

"Well, I was spinning at a party that night, and I put on a song from Bangstreet Waltz, by the Cranks . . ."

"Ah . . ." Lachlan trailed off and sighed, his shoulders dropping, having no desire to delve into that topic. But Paul wasn't finished.

"And I was looking at the back of the album, at the band photo, and I was like 'Ho-lee Shit.' There you are, standing right next to Jed. Guy from the fuckin' farmer's market! Man, Bangstreet Waltz is literally my favourite album of all time!"

Lachlan kept his hands focussed on bundling the carrots and rolled his neck, leaning away from the people across the table as if doing so could somehow remove him from the conversation. His stomach was rolling.

Beau nodded and rubbed Paul's arm. "Yeah, he hasn't stopped talking about it all week."

"Look," Paul said, "I'm doing a party in a few weeks at a club. You've gotta come."

Lachlan shook his head. "Well, thanks for the invite, but I don't do anything like that anymore."

"Anything like what?"

"Anything interesting." Lachlan waved his hands about as if to encompass whatever it was in the world that was 'interesting'.

"No, it's all your kind of stuff, man. Look, if you come, I'll play the entire Side 1 of Bangstreet Waltz."

"No, you're alright, I've heard quite enough of that album, thank you." Why were they still bloody discussing this? Lachlan was done with that time of his life. And he had absolutely no desire to return to it - or even think about it - again.

"No, seriously, you've gotta come."

Lachlan sighed heavily. "I really don't want to, man."

Paul started to beg again, but Beau broke in. "Babe, he can't make it."

Paul turned to her. "Shh. He's coming."

Beau glared. "Shh. He doesn't want to."

Lachlan couldn't help but smile slightly at Beau defending him.

Paul sighed and gave in. He handed Lachlan a flier for the event in case he changed his mind, which he wouldn't, before making a final offer. Before he left he shook Lachlan's hand. "It was really nice to meet you. Seriously, it was a pleasure, an honour. I'm really sorry about your brother."

Lachlan felt a little stab go through his heart at the mention of Jed, but he shook the younger man's hand. "Cheers. I appreciate it."

"Yeah. Cheers."

Beau linked her arm through Paul's as they turned and walked away and Lachlan looked down at the flier he was worrying in his hands. He was startled when he realized someone was talking to him. Beau's brown-haired friend. Belle. He had forgotten she was there.

She smiled sadly at him as he looked up at her. "I'm really sorry about Paul." She said softly. She had a truly lovely voice, deep and melodic. Australian. "Paul can be a bit . . . stubborn when he wants something. But he's a good guy. He didn't mean to upset you."

Lachlan shook his head and brushed it off, offering her smile, faked though it might be. "I'm fine." Unfortunately she seemed to see through it. She grabbed his hand and Lachlan was startled by the sudden pleasure that shot through him.

"Really though." She waited for him to look back up at her. "Sorry for him." She smiled again before releasing his hand and waving as she trotted off to catch up with her friends.

Belle was intrigued by the Scottish man at the Farmer's Market that Beau bought all of her produce from. So when Beau had called and said she and Paul were on a break and asked if Belle would like to go shopping with her again, Belle had happily agreed. There was something about him, Lachlan, that called to something in her. He had been hurting, after Paul's comments, though Belle wasn't entirely sure why, and she hadn't known how to help him. She wished she could.

Beau had told Belle about her trip out to the farm Lachlan worked on, and about their night afterwards - drinking and hanging out at a bar before going back to his place. He'd played a song for her. Beau had been very adamant about the fact that nothing sexual happened.

Belle tried not to be jealous of her friend. It didn't work. Lachlan seemed like such a nice man, calm and funny and easy to be around. Not to mention he was gorgeous, though Beau thought he was a bit old.

And that was the crux of Belle's problem with the subject. Beau seemed to enjoy hanging out with Lachlan, which was fair enough, he was a lovely man. But she was not interested in him in the way he was very obviously interested in her. In Beau's defense, she had made no secret of her relationship with Paul. But to then go out drinking and spend the night with a man who was clearly interested in her was at least mixed signals.

Belle sighed. Beau was friendly, which often meant flirty, and she was gorgeous. Belle knew she was not unaware of how people in general, and Lachlan in particular, reacted to her. But to be fair to Beau, Belle was sure that a good deal of her dissatisfaction was stemming from Lachlan's obvious interest in Beau, even if she was unavailable, and his complete lack of interest in Belle, though he had certainly been polite enough the one time she had met him. Belle just pushed her jealous thoughts away and focussed on seeing Lachlan again as she followed Beau through the Farmer's Market.

When they got to Lachlan's stall he looked decidedly worse than he had the first time Belle had met him. He was wearing sunglasses and holding his head as his previous customer walked off.

"Hey." he said softly as he noticed the two of them. Or, more than likely, just Beau.

"Slow day?" Beau asked.

"Well. I'm slow today. That's for sure."

Beau nodded. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. How about you?"

He clearly wasn't fine, but Beau was his friend, not Belle. And Beau was choosing to leave it alone. So Belle did as well.

"Not great." Beau answered his question. "Paul and I decided to take a break." That was news to Belle. And Beau had to be aware that telling Lachlan she'd broken up with her boyfriend was not going to do anything to halt his crush on her. Belle sighed, but neither of the others seemed to notice.

"I don't like the idea of cooking just for myself." Beau said. Belle actually rolled her eyes.

"Well, I eat." Lachlan answered. Of course he bloody did.

"Oh. You do, do you?" Beau laughed.

"A lot, yeah. I know that's all I can help you with because I'm a shite cook."

"So you'd like to come over for dinner?"

"No. No, no, no, no. Well, yeah. I mean you said, you know, you needed another mouth to feed."

"Well, I do."

Belle brought a hand up to rub at her temples. Flirting. Beau was outright, no-questions-about-it flirting hard with Lachlan. And he was flirting back just as hard. Beau didn't _need_ another mouth to feed. She had plenty of friends she could have asked if she didn't want to eat alone. Friends who wouldn't take it to be some sort of an attempt at a date. Friends like Belle for instance. But instead she had asked Lachlan. And he was only too happy to join her."

Belle tried to contain her irritation. It wasn't fair to be upset like this with her friend. Beau just wanted some company. And if she wanted Lachlan's company then so be it. Belle shouldn't judge her for that. But she couldn't help it. Her jealousy was overriding her normally patient nature.

"Okay, cool." Beau said, smiling at Lachlan.

"Really?" Even after the blatant flirting he was still so surprised.

"Yeah. I'll text you my address?"

"Yeah, sure." He laughed. "Find us something to eat then."

Beau laughed back, though to Belle it sounded maybe a little bit forced. "Right, thanks."

As Beau moved on, presumably to find something to make for dinner that night, Lachlan actually seemed to notice Belle, smiling at her.

"Hey. Belle, right?"

She smiled back at him. It wasn't his fault he happened to like her friend, nor was it Beau's. Belle determined not to be upset with either of them. So she nodded. "Yeah. How are you, Lachlan?"

"Fantastic, I am. How are you?"

It was nice of him to ask, even if he was just being polite. "I'm well."

"Good." He smiled again and nodded at her before moving off to speak to the younger boy who ran the stall with him.

Belle sighed and joined Beau in picking out some vegetables.

The visit to Catherine had been an absolute fucking disaster. She was still angry, no matter what she had said. She was still angry and she didn't want to see him. She didn't seem interested in helping him with his immigration problems. And she didn't seem at all keen on letting him meet his daughter again.

He supposed if he looked past his anger about not being _allowed _to see Arianwen he could understand that a good deal of Catherine's reasoning was based on his own choice to remain gone for ten years. Catherine had asked him to leave her and Arianwen alone, and he had done just that. He couldn't really explain, even to himself, why he had never, in _ten years,_ tried to see them again.

He was scared, probably. Lachlan had never really been good with responsibility - he had thoroughly enjoyed the rock scene while he had been involved with it. His life had been the responsibility of managers. He didn't have to worry about making sense of the world - there were people to do that for him.

Jed's death had taught him that he needed to grow up, needed to act like a fucking adult. And so he had. He had tried to be an adult. But having a wife and a child was too much. Too much responsibility too quickly after not having had any for most of his life. And so he had left.

And every passing year had opened the gulf between Catherine and Arianwen and him a little bit further. Soon it was too late to even think of going back. If he examined his choices from that point of his life, he would have to examine his choices from earlier. He'd have to think about Jed.

Sometimes Lachlan felt like he spent his entire life trying to forget about Jed. No. Not forget. He couldn't forget his brother. But he needed to forget what had happened. What he had done. He couldn't live with it in his head every day.

He shook himself out of that line of thinking as he reached Beau's house, determined to focus on what was going to be the good part of his day.

And it was good. He helped Beau cook dinner, though his help largely consisted of stirring the pot while she did everything else. He ranted to her about Catherine and things he had done when he was younger. She had stolen Paul's Bangstreet Waltz album and asked him about it. They sat, just the two of them, to eat, and he told her about his time in The Cranks.

It was a date. He was on a date, with Beau, at her house, and it would have been perfect if she didn't receive a new text every thirty seconds.

"It's Paul. He's been texting me non-stop." She explained.

Lachlan had thought they'd broken up, but he nodded anyways.

"You know what tonight is?" Beau asked.

"No."

"It's that Brit-Pop thing? He's begging us to come."

"He knows I'm here?" Maybe Lachlan had been out of the dating scene for a while, but he didn't think it was typical for a girl's ex-boyfriend to know she was on a date with another man and then chat with her throughout it.

"Yeah. That's why he's hounding me." Her phone dinged again. "He wants you to come." She was completely focussed on her phone now, muttering to herself. "And he wants his Cranks record back."

"Okay." Lachlan said, nodding.

"But I can just say we're not going."

"No, no. Wait, wait ,wait. Let's go."

"Seriously?"

"Fuck it, why not? I could use the distraction."

And that wasn't entirely a lie. He could definitely use the distraction. He needed something to take his mind off of all the immigration problems, and maybe being around a crowd of excited people would do him good. Not to mention that a party like this gave him a valid excuse to get smashed off his arse, rather than his usual drinking to dispel his own misery. Of course, Beau was the major reason he decided to go. Going to this party would make her happy. Having him attend this party would make her happy. And maybe if he went he could show her that he wasn't just some old, washed up rocker. Maybe he could prove he was fun. Worthwhile.

So they made some drinks, got dressed up, and headed out to Paul's party. It was good, Lachlan thought, to be around people like this again, to be around music like this again. He danced more in that night than he had in the last fifteen years combined, he talked to everybody, or so it seemed, and he tried to ignore it when Beau left him to go and sit with Paul. It had been a very long time since Lachlan had been blackout drunk, but he managed to reach that oblivion.

When he woke up the next morning he was on an unfamiliar couch and his head was pounding, no doubt because his fucking phone was going off.

"Yeah, hello?"

"Lachlan."

"Catherine." He forced himself to sit up.

"I'm only doing this because Ari's therapist thinks it'll be good for her, so . . . Okay."

"Okay what?" He was so confused. He probably wouldn't be this confused if he hadn't gotten himself so fucking polluted last night.

"A meeting. One cup of coffee. No promises beyond that."

Arianwen. She was going to let him meet his daughter. "Right, right. Of course not."

"Two Figs at - uh - twelve?"

"I-I'll be there."

"Don't be late."

"No, no, I won't be - " She had already hung up. He tossed his phone back onto the coffee table and dropped his head into his hands. "Ah, fuck me." He closed his eyes. He startled when he heard the front door opening.

It was Belle. She was wearing a bright yellow dress that should probably have hurt his eyes, but didn't which he was thankful for. She took a moment to look at the bottles scattered around the kitchen, and to take in his no doubt distinctly rumpled appearance, before she spoke.

"What did you two do last night? I thought you were just having dinner."

Her voice was soothing and Lachlan managed to cobble together an answer. "We did. Have dinner. Paul was texting. Wanted us to go to his party. So we went."

Belle closed her eyes and sighed. She seemed disappointed, somehow, though Lachlan had no idea why.

"It was fun." He tried to defend himself, though why he felt the need to defend his actions to her he had no idea. He took a moment to gather himself before standing from the couch and beginning to stumble into the kitchen, hoping Beau would have some aspirin somewhere.

His movement caused Belle to spring into action though. She slipped out of her heels quickly and hurried over to him. She was so small. That was one of the first things Lachlan had noticed about her, but she seemed even smaller now that she didn't have the extra height from the heels. She was standing so close to him and she smelled so good. Vanilla and lemons, he decided. Soft and sweet, but with a hint of tang. It was calming. Soothed his aching head, if only a bit.

Small as she was, he wasn't much bigger and she had no trouble pushing him back onto the sofa.

He tried to get up again. "I've got to go. Got to be somewhere."

She looked at him critically. "When?"

"Noon."

Her face cleared and she smiled softly. "It's barely ten. Rest a bit more, you've got time. I'll get you some aspirin."

He let his head drop back as he heard her rummaging through the kitchen. She came back a moment later with a couple of pills and a full glass of water. He took the pills but waved the water away.

"Oh no." she said, forcing him to take the glass. "You're feeling like shit because you're dehydrated. Drink all of that."

He grimaced, but obeyed as she moved back into the kitchen. He heard some more light clinking and then the sounds of something being cooked. Eggs, from the smell, and bacon. She came back several minutes later carrying a mug of black coffee and a plate full of eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, and toast. It smelled amazing and his stomach wasn't rolling at the thought of it, which was good.

"Here." She handed him the coffee, which he took eagerly, and put the plate on the coffee table. She took his empty glass of water and refilled it, forcing him to drink it all before refilling it yet again. He had finished his coffee and was halfway through the food when she finally sat down beside him.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked. He'd had enough hangovers throughout his life. He knew how to deal with them. Though generally his method consisted of more pills, maybe some hair of the dog, and grinning and bearing it, rather than what she'd made for him. He didn't even know her that well. Why would she take the time to do this?

She looked at him critically for a moment before her eyes softened. "When was the last time someone took care of you?" she asked softly.

He snorted. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thanks."

Belle sighed. "I'm sure you are. But you shouldn't have to. Not all the time, anyways. Especially on days like today."

He glared at her. "What's so special about today, then?" There was nothing special about today, other than meeting with Catherine and Arianwen, and there was no way she knew about that.

She just shook her head, her chestnut curls falling over her shoulders. "I just meant after a night like last night. You're exhausted and hurting. Someone should be around to help you feel better."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm used to dealing with it myself. I don't need some little girl to come force me to drink water."

Belle just stared at him and he turned his eyes away from her, ashamed for being rude when she was just trying to help. But dammit his head was still pounding, and he was worried about his coffee date later.

"Will you let me at least try to help you? Just for today? You said you have a meeting later. It won't be helpful for you to go while you're hurting."

He grunted. "You've already done a lot. The coffee, the water, the food. It's more than I usually do for myself."

He looked towards her and saw her grin. She really was beautiful, and he couldn't fathom why in the world she would take time out of her day to deal with him. But she had, so he couldn't refuse whatever help she offered.

"Turn around, so your back is facing me."

He was unsure what she planned, but did as she asked. He sighed when he felt her hands come to rest lightly on his shoulders, pressing lightly as the aching muscles there. Her fingers moved inwards slowly until she was pressing against the base of his neck, rubbing in slow, soft circles. She moved up and down from his nape to the base of his skull and he sighed as he felt his headache recede from a steady heavy pounding to a slow soft throbbing, easing evermore as her fingers moved again down to his shoulders and down his spine.

He groaned as he felt her hands leave him and he heard her shifting around behind him. He opened his eyes, though he couldn't remember when he had shut them, and looked over his shoulder at her. She had moved to lean back against the armrest of the sofa and she gestured for him to come closer. He did so and sighed when he felt her hands on his shoulders again, but he startled when he felt her pull him back against her chest.

She had a leg on either side of him and his head was nestled back against her breasts. But she didn't seem bothered by their positions, so he couldn't make himself be bothered either. He was stiff at first, but he relaxed very quickly as her fingers set to massaging his shoulders and neck again, her soft smell lulling him into a peaceful state. He wasn't sure what to do with his hands, so he let them rest, linked, on his stomach, before thinking better of that and letting them drop further to cover his groin. The hard-on he was sporting from her touches was _not_ an appropriate expression of his gratitude for her extreme kindness towards him.

But she wasn't exactly making it easy for him to keep his arousal down. Her legs were pale and smooth and bared up to mid thigh and he closed his eyes to avoid looking at them. But closing his eyes only allowed him to focus more on his other senses. She smelled so good and her body was so soft and warm behind him, her fingers gentle but firm against his aches. He groaned loudly as she moved her hands up to card her fingers through his hair, scratching her nails lightly against his scalp.

"So what's this meeting about?" Belle asked. "It looks like it's got you pretty stressed."

Lachlan wasn't particularly happy about the choice of topic, but he was glad that it would allow him to keep his mind off of how interested his body suddenly seemed to have her hands anywhere and everywhere they chose to be. He sighed.

"I'm going to see my ex-wife. She's bringing my daughter. I haven't seen her in ten years."

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's good that you get to see her now, right?"

"Yeah, yeah." he nodded. "Just a bit nervous."

Lachlan sat up abruptly as he heard the door to Beau's bedroom open, somehow feeling guilty for being so comfortable with Belle, especially on Beau's couch. But instead of Beau, it was Paul who came out of the room and Lachlan's heart sank just a bit.

Paul sniffed the air exaggeratedly. "Didn't feel like making breakfast for anyone else, Belle?"

Lachlan turned to see Belle roll her eyes. "Go be a nice boyfriend and make something for Beau, why don't you."

Paul laughed before turning to Lachlan. "Lachlan, my man! Thanks so much for coming out last night! I hope you had a great time! It was awesome!" he held out his hand.

Lachlan shook it. "Yeah, it was good man."

Paul went into the kitchen and the banging started as he moved pans around. Lachlan looked around as the door to Beau's bedroom opened again and she came out, smiling at him before heading into the kitchen to join Paul.

Suddenly uncomfortable now that the object of his interest and her boyfriend were making breakfast together, Lachlan gathered his phone and wallet off the table and stood.

"Are you going now, then?" Belle asked.

He turned back to her and nodded. "Yeah, I'd best be off." His immediate thought as he looked at her was to question when she had become prettier than Beau. But that wasn't really fair. Beau had just woken up after a late night; Belle was completely put together.

"Do you need a ride anywhere?"

He shook his head perhaps a bit too vehemently. "Nah. I'll be fine." He waved at her before hurrying to the door, bidding goodbye to Beau and Paul as he left.

A couple of nights after Belle's run-in with Lachlan after Paul's party, she was again at Beau's, sitting on the couch with a mug fo tea. Beau was a little annoyed that Paul was so completely enraptured with Lachlan, to the point of ignoring her, so she was ignoring him for a little while. But she hadn't wanted to be alone, so Belle had come over.

They'd had a somewhat impromptu Girl's Night, cooking dinner together before sitting down to watch a few episodes of Community, which Beau liked a lot more than she liked regular Rom-Coms.

Beau had left her phone in her room while they sat in the living room, knowing that Paul would be calling and texting incessantly. But when they paused the show so Beau could refill her wineglass, she came back holding it along with her wine. She looked confused as she scrolled through the messages.

"What's the matter?" Belle asked.

"I got a voicemail from Lachlan."

"Oh?" Belle felt bad about being slightly gratified that Beau clearly didn't get messages from the ex-musician often, given her surprise. "What's wrong?"

Beau shrugged. She put the phone to her ear and Belle watched her face as she listened, rolling her eyes and sighing in disgust as she tossed the phone onto the couch.

"What?" Belle asked.

Beau shook her head. "He's drunk. And he's being a pig." She picked up her phone and handed it to Belle. "Hear. Have at it."

Belle put it to her ear and listened as Lachlan's voice came through the device.

"Hey, Beau. It's Lachlan. How you doin'? Nah, I just wanted to - to thank you for that lovely hospitality you gave me at the weekend. That was really really nice. Eh, you know, maybe . . . maybe a voicemail isn't the right way to say this, but I really wanted to be _that man_ in your bed last night." His voice muffled a bit as he mumbled and cursed at someone. There were noises that sounded like cars and Belle was very worried that he was driving because he was very obviously drunk. "You know, not Paul, you know? I mean he's not the man for you. I mean I'm not even saying that I _am_, it's just he's fucking definitely not. Fuck. Give him to someone else. He's a nice guy, he doesn't have to be alone. Give him to one of your friends or something." There was a pause. "Not Belle though. He's not good enough." He chuckled. "No one's fucking good enough for Belle. When did she get so pretty Beau? What happened? You _used_ to be prettier than her. What does that mean?" There was a slight screeching of tires and _fuck_, he was definitely driving. "I've gotta go, Babe. I'll talk to you - I'll see you later." There was some inaudible mumbling in the background before the message ended.

Beau was smirking at her as she looked up. "He does seem to be pretty interested in you though."

Belle rolled her eyes as she looked away from her friend, trying to hide the blush that was no doubt covering her cheeks. "Sorry about the 'pretty' comment."

Beau laughed and stretched out on the couch. "I've got thicker skin than that. Still rude of him to call and tell me I've made the wrong choice in boyfriends."

"Well you do argue with Paul a lot."

Beau rolled her eyes. "That's what we _do_, though. It's just how our relationship works." She smiled. "And I guess it does work, for us."

Belle grinned and shook her head. "I don't know how it works. But whatever."

They went back to watching their show, but were interrupted only a few minutes later as Beau's phone rang again.

She looked at the phone before sighing. "It's Lachlan." She went to toss it onto the table but Belle stopped her.

"It might be important."

Beau raised her eyebrows then and smirked. "Okay, you answer it then, Miss-I've-got-a-huge-crush-on-a-man-old-enough-to- be-my-dad."

Belle blushed hard and grabbed the phone out of Beau's hand, glaring as she answered it. "Lachlan?"

"Erm - hi there. I'm Gary. Look - Lachlan's here at my bar and he's - not having a great time. I've called his boss to come drive him home."

Belle was rather confused. "Um. Okay. Why did you call me?"

"You're the most recent number in his phone. I've seen guys when they get like this, he's not going to go easily. You his girlfriend or something? Would you be able to help him calm down?"

"Yeah. Where are you?"

It was only once Belle had left Beau, looking quite surprised, and gotten into her car, heading for the directions the bartender had given her, that she realized how stupid she must seem. She wasn't Lachlan's girlfriend, it hadn't even been her number in the phone. She had no idea of whether or not she could help him out of whatever he'd gotten himself into. But her response had been immediate. He was hurting and in danger of causing more damage to himself and she absolutely couldn't allow that to happen. He was more important to her than she had quite realized before now.

She was lucky not to run into any cops because she was driving fast enough to reach the bar in almost half the time it should have taken. She hurried her steps towards the door when she heard shouting. She found Lachlan facing and yelling at a man she assumed was his boss.

"He died before he got a chance to be in a fucking American jukebox." He stumbled over to the nearest wall and sank down into a chair there, his voice going faint enough she could barely hear it as he dropped his head into his hands. "And it's my fault, because I fucking killed him. I cannae go home."

Jed. He was talking about his brother. Belle's heart absolutely broke for him as he brushed his hands through his hair and sat up, on the verge of tears. Something inside of her was screaming for him; screaming that she do something to ease his pain. She started to walk over, but paused as his boss bent down to him.

"It's just a black night, man, it'll - it'll feel different in the morning. You ready to go now?"

There was silence for a moment as Lachlan looked at his boss, breathing harshly. "I'll fucking go myself." Lachlan stumbled up from his chair, pushing the other man away from him.

He came up short when he saw Belle standing between him and the door. "Belle? What re you doin' all the way out here?"

He looked so incredibly tired and broken and she had to work to keep the tears out of her eyes and out of her voice. "Someone said you might need a ride home."

He shook his head and fumbled his keys out of his pocket. "I can go myself." He tried to walk past her.

She put a hand out against his chest and he stopped immediately, looking down at her hand in shock. She held her other hand out to him, palm up.

"Give me your keys, please Lachlan."

"I have to - "

She shook her head. "No. You're in no state to drive right now. Too dangerous. Keys please."

He dropped them into her waiting hand and she put them in the inner pocket of her leather jacket.

"Thank you." She couldn't resist moving her free hand up to brush some of his hair out of his face. "Now, would you like a ride home?"

His eyes were filled with tears as he nodded slowly. And then he was suddenly pressed up against her, his face buried in her neck as he wrapped his arms around her and held on tight. She immediately returned the embrace with one arm while she used her other hand to stroke his hair soothingly. And she murmured to him. Vague words of comfort that he wouldn't remember anyways. So what did it matter if she promised him that she would always take care of him, that she'd always be there to hold his hand if he needed her. He wouldn't remember in the morning.

Soon he had calmed enough that she could get him out to her car, tucking him in to the passenger seat and buckling him in before shutting the door on him carefully. His head came to rest on the door frame as soon as it was closed. She circled around to the driver's side, and stopped as she saw the other man, Lachlan's boss, close by.

"I'm Belle, by the way." she said, holding out her hand.

"Warner." His grip was strong, but not hurtful. He was eyeing her critically, measuring her up, though by what standard she had no idea. "You the girl he stays in LA all the time now for? Because maybe I can understand."

Belle blushed, feeling vaguely ashamed and a bit hurt. Even his boss knew Lachlan had a thing for Beau, even though Warner had never met her. "No. That would be my friend Beau. There's nothing between them, though I think Lachlan wishes there was. I don't think he's interested in me quite like that. Not over Beau anyway."

Warner looked at her curiously. "Well, I don't know Beau, but trust me darlin', that man is very interested in you. And it looks like that could be a really good thing if you're interested in him too." He let the subject drop as Belle blushed again. "Come on, you can follow me back to his place. He's not going to be able to give you directions like that."

Belle smiled. "Thank you."

Warner nodded and went to start up his truck.

The drive to Lachlan's small house didn't take long and Belle waved Warner off after he helped her get Lachlan inside.

She left him sitting on his bed and told him to change into sleep wear as she went into the kitchen and hunted out his Aspirin. She brought the bottle of it and a full glass of water back with her to his room.

He was sitting slumped against the wall at the head of his bed, in the same clothes he'd been wearing at the bar. Belle sighed and placed the medicine on his bedside table and shook him to make sure he was awake before handing him the water and telling him to drink it.

She couldn't leave him like this. She would worry about him hurting himself sometime during the night. Hoping he wouldn't mind too much she searched through his things and found a pair of boxers and a couple of shirts.

When she came back to him he had finished his water and she refilled the glass in the kitchen quickly, placing it next to the pills.

That done, she looked back at him and sighed. He was completely gone now, staring up at her solemnly, blinking tiredly. She stripped off his jacket and boots first before encouraging him to lift his arms so she could pull his black t-shirt off. She refused to let herself look at him as she recovered him with one of the looser white t-shirts she had found. Then she pushed him lightly to lay back on his bed before setting to work on his lower half. She stalled for time by rolling off his socks, but eventually she was faced with the task of his pants. She berated herself for being so ridiculous about it and forced her hands to be steady as she undid the button, followed by the zipper. When she looked up at him he was laying with one arm behind his head, smirking at her. She glared at him before pulling the jeans off, carefully avoiding his groin and ignoring any growing indications of arousal as she left him in his boxers.

She folded all of his discarded clothes and placed them on a chair and returned to him. He wriggled around a bit to help her get the blankets out from underneath her and she couldn't help laughing. She tucked the covers around him and pushed his hair back before whispering, "Good Night."

But before she could walk away he grabbed her wrist. "Stay, Belle? Please?"

Oh, she was an idiot who was clearly infatuated with him, but Belle couldn't refuse him. "Just give me a minute." She hurried into the bathroom, using the facilities and washing her face as best she could before changing into the boxers and extra t-shirt she had nicked from his dresser. She refused to let herself think of how much the clothes smelled like him and how content that made her.

She climbed into the bed beside him and he immediately snuggled into her. She let her hand brush through his hair as he drifted off to sleep and she pondered how she had come to this point in her life. She had never been much of one for pop culture, but somehow she was now sleeping with - literally - an ex-rock star, and she was completely and totally . . . something with him. She didn't want to say in love - that was far too strong. There was no way she could love him. She barely knew him. But she was certainly . . . infatuated, enamoured, besotted, enraptured, smitten? She wanted desperately to be a part of his life. More than anything she wanted to provide him with someone he could count on, someone who could ease him out of his loneliness, someone who would take care of him when he wouldn't take care of himself. She wanted to be that for him.

She hugged him a little bit closer to her and, dreams of a life with him filling her head along with hopes he wouldn't be too upset to find her there in the morning, Belle slept.

Lachlan woke up in the morning feeling far better than he had any right to, given how much he'd had to drink the night before. The throbbing in his head was actually manageable and he was more comfortable than he could ever remember being. As he opened his eyes slowly he realized the comfort and warmth was because he was laying sprawled over Belle. She was lying on her back, breathing softly. He had his head pillowed on her breasts, his left arm draped over her waist, and his legs tangled with hers.

_Shit_. After she had taken care of him during his last serious hangover - _fuck_, was that only two days ago? This was happening way too often - he had come to terms with the fact that he was not nearly as interested in Beau as he was in Belle. But getting as drunk as he had last night, forcing her to stay over to look after him, and invading her personal space to a frankly disgusting degree just so he felt safe was sure as fuck _not_ the way to go about expressing his interest in her.

He was hungover, so all of this information took a moment to filter through his brain, but when it did, he forced himself to jerk away from her, sitting up away from her and leaning his head back against the wall. He should have been more careful getting up because his jerking around had disturbed her rest. She started to stretch and he should _really _have looked away from her then, but he honestly couldn't drag his eyes away. She stretched her arms out and arched her back and she must have taken her bra off because he could see her hardened nipples through the shirt - _his_ shirt, fuck, she was wearing one of his shirts without a bra. He probably shouldn't find that quite as sexy as he did.

As her eyes blinked open he gathered some more of the covers into his lap, hoping they might be able to cover his growing hard-on.

She smiled as she looked up at him and he felt awful. He couldn't remember much of the night before, and he had no idea how she'd known to come out to the bar, but he must have been awful to deal with, he had been in such a bad head space. And yet here she was, smiling at him. Lachlan honestly couldn't remember ever meeting someone more amazing than Belle.

"Hey," she said softly. "How are you feeling this morning?"

He shrugged. "Head hurts a bit."

"There's water and Aspirin on the side table."

He looked over and saw the medicine. He swallowed two of the pills quickly and then drained the glass of water simply because he knew she wanted him to. Because she knew it would help him.

He placed the glass back on the night stand and looked down at his hands, playing with the ring on his right hand and feeling stupid for wanting to cry.

"Lachlan?"

He looked at Belle for a moment before shaking his head and looking back down at his hands.

She rolled onto her side and placed her hand over his, stilling his movements. "What's the matter? What just happened?"

Her voice was so soft, and she was _so_ good, he couldn't refuse her an answer. It was unfair of him to grab onto her hand so that she wouldn't be able to move it away, but it calmed him slightly to hold her small, soft hand in his and brush his thumb against her wrist as he tried to speak.

"Why are you here, now? Why - why do you always help me like this?" She stiffened slightly and he held tighter to her hand. "I'm not - I'm not worth it, Belle." She seemed to relax and he looked down at her to see her eyes soft and watery as she looked up at him and he felt awful; he hadn't meant to make her cry. Why should she cry over someone like him?

"You are worth it, Lachlan. Everybody deserves someone who will take care of them when they need it. Even you."

He didn't know how it happened or why he did it, but suddenly he had slid down to lay beside her and his lips were on hers. He was a terrible person, he hadn't even given her a chance to pull away from him. He was about to pull back from her when her left hand came up to hold his head in place and her right arm wrapped around his waist. Having her pull him closer rather than push him away filled him with more joy than he could fathom and he licked lightly at her lips, begging for entrance, needing to be closer to her.

He groaned as she opened to him and pulled her tighter against his body, rubbing his aching cock against her soft belly. She mewled into his mouth and arched against him and the idea that he was giving her pleasure was better even that the hope of being pleased by her. He thrust his tongue into her mouth and she let hers play against it. She tasted sweet, with a hint of spice. She tasted like home in some way he couldn't even begin to make sense of. Bloody hell, he felt like he had when he was younger, when he had taken drugs every night with the band so they could keep up with their audience. He felt . . . euphoric - he understood what people meant when they said they felt they could fly. And all from being in Belle's arms, wrapped around her body, and kissing her like his life depended on it.

But the she was pulling back from his mouth, pushing against his shoulders when he tried to follow her, and he groaned as he pulled away, apologizing as soon as their lips parted. "Sorry Belle. Sorry, sorry, sorry."

She chuckled and he opened his eyes as he felt her hand on his cheek. "Your phone is going off."

The ringing finally registered. "Oh." He untangled himself from her and reached over to his side table where the phone was resting, not particularly caring who was trying to get a hold of him. The important thing was that Belle had been happy in his arms.

The text message became a hell of a lot more important when he saw it was from Arianwen, asking him to call her. He looked up at Belle, she looked concerned.

"What is it?"

"It's my daughter. She wants me to call her."

Belle smiled. "That's good. You should do that."

Lachlan couldn't help smiling back. "Yeah, I suppose so." He went out to the living room to call Arianwen. When he got back to his bedroom, Belle had gotten changed into the clothes she must have been wearing last night, though he couldn't remember - jeans and a lightweight golden sweater. She looked up at him curiously.

"We're uh - going to meet up downtown in a couple of hours."

Belle smiled. "That's wonderful. Did you want a ride into town? I have to go in anyway."

Lachlan looked at her nervously. "That would - uh - that would be great. If you don't mind. And then we could - uh - we could maybe get coffee afterwards? If you wanted?"

Belle beamed at him and he felt his whole chest constrict with the hope she gave him. "I think that would be really lovely."

"Good. Good." Lachlan knew he had an utterly ridiculous grin on his face, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

"You should probably go shower and change." Belle pointed out.

He glanced down at himself and laughed. "Aye, you're probably right. Will you be alright for a few minutes?"

Belle grinned. "How about I make us some breakfast while you get ready?"

"I'd like that."

Lachlan thought he should probably hate this - waking up together, showering while she cooked, and all with no sex. It was all so domestic - something he'd never really thought to be. But he couldn't remember ever being quite so content as he was now.

"Hey."

Belle looked up from her book to see Lachlan sliding into the booth across from her and smiled. "Hey! How did it go with Arianwen?"

He smiled, looking truly happy, as he wrapped his hands around his mug. "Well. It went well. She likes school and she's good at it. Better than I was by far. She - uh - she plays guitar."

"That's wonderful!" Belle was sure it must be difficult trying to reconnect with one's child after so long. But hopefully having something in common would make it easier for Lachlan and Arianwen. He deserved something to be easy for once.

"And I think - if her mother goes along with it - I think she might be coming to visit me once I - uh - get settled again in Scotland." He paused and looked at her warily, though she didn't know why.

"Oh Lachlan, that's fantastic. I'm so glad you're going to have some time together." He looked down at his mug a bit dejectedly. "What's wrong?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. I thought - This morning I thought we had something starting. And now you find out I'm moving across the Atlantic and it doesn't even phase you?"

"Oh." _Shit_. He hadn't told her that, had he. "I, uh. I already knew you were going."

"What? How?"

"After Paul figured out who you were, Beau Googled you. I happened to be there. I noticed a link she didn't bother clicking on. When I got home I went and found it again. Your podcasts. I listened to them."

He looked faintly dumbstruck. "My podcasts? You listened to ALL of them?"

"Yeah. They're pretty great, actually." Belle could feel herself blushing. "You've got a great voice for it."

He was silent for a little while, contemplating what she had said, no doubt. She hoped he wasn't upset about it, but she didn't see why he should be. He'd put them out there for people to listen to.

"So you, uh, you know about Jed, then?"

"Your brother? Yeah. And I'm so sorry."

"If you know about that, why are you here?"

"What do you mean?"

He was jittery now, unable to stop fumbling with his hands and his mug. "It's my fault he died. Why would you even want to be around me?"

She grabbed his hands to stop them from moving and held them tightly. "Lachlan, it was an accident. Sure, you did something stupid, but you didn't mean to hurt him. It was an accident and you can't let it tear you up like this."

He kept his gaze down on his mug, but he held tighter to her hands. "I don't know how I'm going to go back. How I'm gonnae face everyone. I haven't talked to anyone from back home in more than a decade. How the hell am I supposed to face them now?"

Belle squeezed his hands. "You're strong. You can do it."

She moved them off the topic of his coming move, instead discussing the guitar he had just sold, the book she was reading, some of the new movies coming out, things she hoped would help to settle his mind.

He invited her back to his place for dinner and she readily agreed, glad she had taken the chance to shower and change and pack an overnight bag - just in case - while he was meeting with his daughter. Catherine had called to agree to Arianwen visiting Lachlan in Scotland and while he'd been discussing the details with her, Belle had snuck out to make her own phone call.

Dinner had been delicious; the vodka rigatoni she made turned out very well and for dessert they'd had some of the fresh raspberry pie Lachlan had in his fridge from the farm. But her favourite part was probably the warmth and security that Belle felt with him as they sat sipping their coffee afterwards.

Tension built as they finished their coffee and Lachlan deposited their mugs in the sink before turning to her with a sheepish expression and rubbing the back of his neck. "You know, you don't have to - That is, you're welcome to stay . . . here . . . tonight. If you - If you want."

Belle nodded as she closed the distance between them. "I'd like that." She leaned up to press her lips against his and wrapped her arms around his neck.

He sighed into her and wrapped his arms around her back. The dress she had changed into earlier had a low-cut back and she moaned in satisfaction as she felt his hands drag across the bare skin of her shoulders and down until he hit the dress before coming around to rub at her hips.

He coaxed her mouth open and she sighed as he deepened the kiss, sinking her fingers into his hair as he consumed her and they both moaned in pleasure.

Ever so slowly and carefully he began walking her backwards. He misjudged and ended up pinning her against a wall - or maybe that had been his plan - but she wasn't complaining as she sucked at his tongue and listened to him groan in pleasure as he pushed his hips against hers.

She broke from his mouth for air and he dragged his lips over her jaw and down her neck. One of his hands came up to cradle the back of her neck while his thumb ran soothingly over her jaw as his mouth clamped down where her neck met her shoulder and she cried out for him as he licked and sucked and bit, marking her clearly.

He lifted his head slightly to examine his work and her knees turned to liquid at the heat in his eyes.

He bent to kiss her again, but she stopped him long enough to pant, "Bed!". He nodded frantically and then his mouth was slanted over hers again, devouring her as he picked her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and whined against his lips as her core brushed against his arousal. His steps hurried and then she was falling back on his bed and he was on top of her, one hand tangled in her hair, the other holding her hip as he thrust against her through his jeans and her knickers.

She knew she was moaning frantically and thrusting up against him as he pressed against her again and again. She was dragging her hands up and down his sides, finally moving them down to cup his gorgeous arse and pull him harder against her. She shifted under him slightly and then she had ripped her mouth away from his, keening loudly as he pressed directly against her clit with each surge of his hips.

His lips moved down to lick and kiss at her neck and chest as she rocked her hips faster against his. She was so close, but she didn't know how to get herself over the edge. And then he closed his teeth on her throat, biting down on the side opposite from the first, and she screamed his name as she came.

There was some moving around while she was still fuzzy, and when the world was clear again, she could see that Lachlan had shucked his shirt and socks and was just kicking his trousers off. She sat up and pulled her dress over her head as he moved towards her and then pulled him back into her arms, letting him return to plundering her mouth, sighing at the sensation of so much of his bare skin against her.

Belle let go of him for a moment to undo her bra and pull it off, flinging to somewhere on the floor.

He immediately pulled back to look at her and shuddered. "God, you're beautiful."

Belle sighed as he dropped his head, covering her breasts in kisses before taking the left one in hand and kneading it while he licked around her right, slowly working his way up to the tip and then taking her nipple into his mouth to suckle at her while he pinched the nipple of her left breast gently between his finger and thumb.

Belle arched up against him helplessly, moaning his name. He switched sides, but Belle didn't feel like taking her time. She managed to reach down and pull her knickers off before working his boxers of and arching up against him again.

H groaned loudly and dropped his forehead to her breast bone as his cock came up against her wet heat. He pushed himself up on his arms and reacher over to the drawer of his bedside table, grabbing a condom and rolling it on quickly before pressing himself back against her and letting his forehead rest against hers.

"Are you sure Belle? We can stop if you want to." He panted as he rocked his hips gently against her. "Just tell me. I'll stop."

Belle used one hand to drag his mouth down to hers, using her tongue to coax his into her mouth, and her other hand reached down to grab at his arse again, squeezing the flesh there and pulling him closer to her.

He groaned deeply into her mouth and she felt him shudder as he sheathed himself in her, yanking his mouth away from hers so he could breathe.

"Fuck, Belle." He pressed open mouth kisses against her lips and jaw and neck as he began thrusting into her. "God, you feel amazing."

She dropped her head back against the pillows, focussing on the sound of his voice and the feel of him inside her. He was better by far than anyone she had ever been with. She felt whole with him filling her.

He increased the pace of his hips even as the fervour of his kisses over her face and neck increased and she could tell he was getting close. He had already gotten her off, so Belle would have been happy just to watch him come, but he dragged the hand at her hip to her core and started rubbing tight circles around her clit as he pounded into her. The heat that had suffused her body flamed up and she keened, thrusting desperately up against him.

He dropped his head to rest against her neck and she heard him whispering frantically as he thrust harder and moved his finger faster. "Come on Belle. Come for me. Please, love."

His voice was gravel rough and his accent so thick Belle could barely understand him. He sounded so fucking close and that pushed her over the edge. She moaned as she clenched around him and listened to him groan loudly as he stiffened inside of her.

Eventually he relaxed and she sighed in regret as he slipped from her body and removed the condom, tossing it into a bin before gathering her back into his arms and pulling the covers up. He bent his head to kiss her leisurely, just taking time to explore her mouth and encouraging her to do the same.

Belle didn't have an exact memory of when the kissing stopped and they fell asleep.

Lachlan sat on the plane that would take him back to the UK, back to Scotland, back to his _home_, waiting for them to finish boarding and contemplating just how much his life had changed in recent months. Much as he had been terrified of returning to his family and friends, he had honestly enjoyed his life in California. But he had come to realize that he wouldn't change recent events, even if he could.

What he had told Piper on the phone had been true, even if he hadn't wanted to acknowledge it. Much as he had loved California and called it his home, Scotland was his _home_ and not only did he need to go back and face his past, he actually _wanted_ to. He wanted to see his family again, and the friends he and Jed had left behind. He wasn't sure what his reception would be. But he honestly wanted to try.

And the immigration problem had forced him to talk to Catherine again. And that had let him meet Arianwen again for the first time in far too long. He already loved his daughter and he was looking forward to her visiting. And he actually hoped she would bring her mother with her. He'd forgotten why he had enjoyed being around Catherine when they were younger. She didn't take any of his shit, but she didn't generally berate him either.

She was a lot like Belle in that sense. Taking care of him and keeping him grounded. And Belle. Belle was his best reason for being happy with his change of situation. If he hadn't been so desperate to keep his mind off of his immigration issues, he might not have gotten into all trouble she'd helped to ease him out of. He might not have come to appreciate her as much as he did.

And that would be a tragedy. Belle was the best thing to ever happen to him. He had spent these last two weeks organizing to leave the States, booking a flight, getting things squared with the immigration officials, finding somewhere to stay once he got to Scotland. She'd been with him through everything and every moment that wasn't spent dealing with that or helping Warner and Julian out on the farm to try and make up for his erratic behaviour recently had been spent wrapped in her arms, drowning in her kisses, held tightly in her body.

That was his biggest regret about leaving the US. Leaving her behind. Last night he had made her promise to come visit him as soon as she could. She had smiled and agreed and they had made love and fallen asleep in each other's arms.

If he could have one wish, it would be to have her with him always. She was the strength he couldn't summon inside himself and he knew that if he had her by his side he would be able to do anything and everything in the world.

He heard some shuffling next to him and looked up from his window to see who he'd be sitting with for the long flight, hoping he'd get lucky and it might be some quiet business guy who would just sit and do work the entire time.

Instead he was shocked to see Belle standing there and he stood up fast enough that he hit his head on the overhead compartment. He winced as he held his hand to his head and smiled wonderingly at the woman in front of him.

"Belle! What are you doing here?"

"Well," she grinned, "You invited me to visit at my earliest convenience. This happens to be my earliest convenience. And I thought you might like to have someone with you. When you have to face everyone."

He hugged her tightly, burying his face in her hair. "Yeah. I would really like that."

He reluctantly let go of her when a stewardess came by and asked them to take their seats. After they had buckled themselves in, he took hold of her left hand in his right and laced their fingers together. "But don't you have to work or something?" He felt bad that he hadn't once bothered to ask what she did in the last two weeks.

"The boss seemed very agreeable to letting me have a fair bit of time off."

"Oh?"

She chuckled. "I'm self-employed. I own a second-hand bookstore/coffee shop type thing. I run it with my protoge, if you will, George. He's Paul's little brother, actually." She traced the fingers of her free hand over their joined hands. "I've been thinking about . . . maybe letting George have the shop in LA. Of maybe . . . opening another location. Do you think Scotland could use something like that?"

She looked so hopeful as she looked up at him and Lachlan felt tears welling in his eyes. She was asking to stay with him. He'd never been happier. He nodded. "Yeah. I think they really could."

She laughed again and squeezed his hand tighter. "Good."

She sank down in her seat and rested her head against his shoulder as the plane prepared to take off. "So," he asked as they started off down the runway, "how did you meet Beau?"

He felt her laugh against his shoulder. "Well, we had this mutual friend, called Matt. He seemed to think it was funny that we both had names that meant beautiful in French, so he decided to introduce us."

He settled in to listen to the story, honestly not sure that he would ever be any happier than he was at this moment, even though he'd never expected to be so again.


End file.
